Speaker Ryan Looking Into Sanctions Over House Sit-In

C-SPAN aired live streaming video of the House sit-in over gun control legislation in June.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said Thursday (July 7) that he has been meeting with the House Rules Committee, parliamentarians and others about possible sanctions over Democrats' sit-in protest on the House floor two weeks ago over gun violence legislation.

Meanwhile, House Democrats continued to talk on the floor about gun violence after the House recessed following morning business Thursday.

Ryan called the protest a troubling trend and said that if the House floor became a partisan war zone there would be no chance of bipartisanship. Some House Democrats had live streamed the June 22-23 sit-in via Facebook and Periscope after Ryan ordered the House cameras turned off, a violation of House floor rules. C-SPAN aired the live streams throughout the protest.

Ryan signaled he would not allow the rule of law to be "thrown out the window," and opined that the House floor had become virtually the only place that he could get to know members of the other party.